...Researchers at Moores Cancer Center at the University of California S... The study examined the factors that drive treatment choices for patie...Surgery radiation and hormone therapy are the most common treatments ...Between 2001 and 2006 56 percent of the study participants received t...

Researchers at Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego and colleagues have found that prostate cancer treatments varied significantly between county hospitals and private providers. Patients treated in county hospitals are more likely to undergo surgery while patients treated in private facilities tend to receive radiation or hormone therapy. These findings were published online by the journal Cancer on January 25.

"The study examined the factors that drive treatment choices for patients with prostate cancer" said J. Kellogg Parsons, MD, MHS, principal investigator and urologic oncologist at Moores UCSD Cancer Center. "We found that decisions are significantly influenced by the type of health care facility where they receive care."

Surgery, radiation and hormone therapy are the most common treatments for localized prostate cancer. Each is associated with different risks and benefits with no consensus as to the most effective form of treatment, though life expectancy, other illnesses, cancer severity and patient preferences may account in part for treatment choices. Parsons and colleagues at UCLA compared the types of treatments prostate cancer patients received from public and private hospitals as part of a California public assistance program. The researchers analyzed the care provided to 559 men enrolled in a state-funded program for low-income patients known as Improving Access, Counseling and Treatment for Californians with Prostate Cancer (IMPACT).

Between 2001 and 2006, 56 percent of the study participants received treatment from county hospitals and 44 percent received care from private facilities. While tumor characteristics were similar in each group, patients treated in private facilities were more likely than those treated in county hospitals to be white and less likely to undergo surgery. Specifically, patients treated in private facilities were nearly two-and-a-half times more likely than those treated in county hospitals to receive radiation and more than four-and-a-half times more likely to initially receive hormone therapy instead of surgery.

While the reasons for these differences in treatment decisions are not known, the type of doctor that patients see may play a role, according to Parsons. At county hospitals, patients were initially under the care of urologists, while the initial providers at private facilities represented urologists, radiation oncologists, and medical oncologists.

"The fact that prostate cancer patients are treated differently based on the type of hospital has implications for health policy, quality of care and equality of careparticularly because public hospitals are funded by city and state governments to provide health care for underserved, poor populations," said Parsons.

After skin malignancies, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer, and the second leading cause of cancer death among U.S. men.

(Date:12/9/2016)... NY (PRWEB) , ... December 09, 2016 , ... ... and Drug Dependence, Inc. (NCADD) is recommending the film Whispering Spirits ... and the District of Columbia as an education tool in the war against teen ...

(Date:12/9/2016)... ... December 09, 2016 , ... An inventor from Cana, Va., wanted ... all types of amusement park rides. , The patent-pending SAFETY STRAP FOR AMPUTEES improves ... use and could be set up in a matter of minutes, or even seconds. ...

(Date:12/9/2016)... ... 09, 2016 , ... The Holy Name Medical Center Foundation ... on December 3rd, to benefit Holy Name Medical Center's programs and services. More ... over $1 million - the largest event in the Center's history, both in ...

(Date:12/9/2016)... ... December 09, 2016 , ... "I had a terrible time trying to get ... thought that if the nebulizer had a more child-friendly design, then children would be ... developed the patent-pending NEBY to avoid the need to deliver medication via a nebulizer ...

(Date:12/8/2016)... 2016 KEY FINDINGS The global ... 2017-2023. Various reasons for growth of the medical lifting ... of chronic diseases, high recovery cost of injuries and ... Medical lifting sling refers to an assistive device that ... slings connect to the lift and hold the patient. ...

(Date:12/8/2016)... Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY ) today ... at the 9 th Clinical Trials on Alzheimer,s ... meet the primary endpoint in the EXPEDITION3 clinical trial, ... dementia due to Alzheimer,s disease (AD), and Lilly will ... of mild dementia due to AD. ...